TX to MO

Monday, December 29th:



We left the house at 7AM to drive to Columbia, Missouri, to visit UCI friends Maroua, Ryan, and Rami. The drive went well considering that Oklahoma toll roads cost us about $15...! I can easily say that Dot's Cafe in Claremore, OK has the worst bathroom in America, possibly the world. It's a tiny cafe where you walk through the dirty kitchen, out the back door, to a lean-to bathroom. It's basically outside in the 25 degree weather. The boards on the door are warped so the door won't close all the way. The toilet seat is FREEZING! You can't put toilet paper into the toilet because it's not really a toilet. It's a toilet over a hole in the ground. I ended up changing Ella's diaper while she stood up.

One tiny blooper... I managed to get everyone out the door on time, but I left all of our coats on the couch AND I neglected to put on shoes. You would think that this makes me crazy, right? I mean, how can you leave the house with no shoes when it's 20 degrees outside? Well, it just goes to show how comfy my new house shoes are. I *thought* I had shoes on... We stopped in Osage Beach, MO at the outlet mall and went shoe and coat shopping. The kids had coats in the car from church on Sunday, but Kris and I were SOL. I got a new pair of shoes and jacket while Kris opted for just a pullover sweater.

We arrived at around 8:30 and both kids had fallen asleep. The woke up once we went inside Maroua and Ryan's super cute house and partied until 10:00. Jake and Rami sleft in sleeping bags on the floor while Ella slept in the pack n' play in our room upstairs. The "big kids" stayed up talking until 1:30 in the morning then headed to bed.